Do you remember the riddle of the sphinx? What walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in midday and 3 legs in the evening?
Man.
We crawl in the dawn of our lives, walk during the day and use a cane in the evening of our lives.
Well, the sphinx is one of my favorite wise old cats and I think she has a lot to teach us. Her latest puzzle is a doozie.
What annoys you at dawn, bores you at midday and attracts you at dusk?
The answer: a network marketer.
When a network marketer is at the dawn of his career, he can be very annoying. Three foot rules, accosting people at malls, bringing his sales pitch to Thanksgiving dinner. Much of what is taught by network marketing companies is irritating as hell to the people around the new distributor. Spammy, pushy, annoying–the new network marketer is not fun to invite to a party.
Later, the network marketer learns to provide value. Often this is a result of their warm market running away and the Mall putting a restraining order on them. By necessity they changed tactics. Now they latch onto value.
This, of course, is in the right direction. No longer pushy, the distributor now tries to educate, help, and provide valuable information that you never even knew you needed. And much of this is just plain boring.
When I was in this phase, I also became a boring marketer. I was trying to add value and I was trying to be beneficial, but that was all I could do.
One of my coaches at the time said “Michael, I am just going to be honest with you. I see what you are trying to do here with what you have written, but you’re just boring! The thing is I know you and you are not boring, so quit trying to be boring here!”
That woke me up!
The final phase of the mature network marketer is to become attractive. This is when you know how to provide value in a helpful, non-pushy, and even entertaining way. You become the person that everyone wants to go to. And in fact, people seek you out.
Lead with value, entertain and enlighten. This is the formula for attractive marketing.
Do you like to cut to the chase? Read the last chapter first? Get an expert coach to help you jump to the dusk of your network marketing career without all the annoying, boring stuff. Let a guide or mentor show you how to become entertaining and enlightening, quickly.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Man, you got this one right! I have certainly been guilty of all of the above. It is extremely annoying to be on the other end. Glad network marketers like Ann Sieg and you are helping people do a better job.
Mark,
Thanks for the support.
It is annoying to be on the other end; but since most of us have been there … I try to cut people a little slack!
Michael
Nice post Mike; It will help me to run my online marketing more effectively.
Thanks!
Tony
Mike,
It’s funny, when I look back at how I started out in my MLM – definitely annoying. But I’ve been trying attraction marketing for a long time (no malls or buying leads!) and am still not ‘attracting’ people. What’s the secret?
Doug,
Yes, nearly everyone starts out that way (at least MLMers).
Attraction marketing techniques are based on offering value, so they are more sustainable long-term than some other techniques – you can learn to connect your value with people already looking for what you have to offer.
However, just because it is more comfortable and more sustainable doesn’t mean that it is automatic! It still takes work, and plenty of it in most cases.
Here’s a ‘secret’ – Persistence.
Here’s another ‘secret’ – Focus.
Well, not really secrets, but extremely important. Focus comes first and really means identify your niche, your market, as small and as focused as possible. Almost everyone tries to connect with too large of a market, especially at first. Your niche should be smaller than you think.
You know what persistence means. Enough said.
Let me know if I can help.
Michael
My whole upline is still into the 3 foot rule and making lists of family and friends. Is there any way to change my marketing tactics if my sponsor and upline only support old school selling?
Rick,
Yes, that is an issue that many people struggle with – differences in approach to marketing and sales with their upline.
It’s a challenge because the upline is trying to lead and offer actionable ideas to their downline (which is good) and it causes friction if everyone is not on the same page (which is bad).
A couple of ideas:
Most important is whether the Company supports different marketing strategies. If the Company will allow you to market the way you want, then you can find a different mentor (not an upline change, just someone in the company to work with on marketing)
If your company has restrictions with how you want to market, that’s a problem. I talk about this in my High Income From Home series and how important it is to be in sync with the company marketing policies.
Last idea: Get online marketing coaching or guidance on implementing your own online marketing plan in your own way.
It is fundamentally important to be comfortable with how your are marketing and selling yourself and your business – work on this until you get it right. If you are new at it, almost everything is a little uncomfortable. However, you’ll know it – you can feel it inside – when it’s NOT right; I’m sure you know what I mean.
Good Luck getting the right mentor or coach.
Let me know if I can help you accelerate your business success.
Michael
Mike,
Love the analogy. Unfortunately most people have to go through the ‘annoying’ phase first
I got a mentor in my MLM that had a different view, thankfully, so that saved me some time. You are right about getting a coach – it saved my business.
Robert,
You are lucky – sounds like you have a mentor with a progressive approach to marketing and business.
Thanks for sharing how powerful a coach can be. “It saved my business” is a great statement – I’m sure you gave your coach a fantastic testimonial.
Best of luck growing your business
Michael
Mike,
Definitely working on being an ‘attractive’ marketer. It wasn’t always that way, but it feels a lot better no being pushy.
You’ve got some great ideas on your blog for doing online marketing correctly. Keep up the good work.
David,
Thanks for the comment – it is always good to get some positive feedback.
Michael
Thanks – nice image. I haven’t heard that riddle in a long time.
Do you still coach network marketers or teach online marketing?
I could use the help.
Tim,
It’s a classic … I used the analogy to answer a question in an interview with Rob Christensen.
Yes, I am definitely an Online Marketing Coach and many of my clients are network marketers and business owners.
Contact me if you want to talk about coaching options. Many of my clients start out with a personalized online marketing plan because they get a site review plus a traffic generation plan, plus a live review with me. From there it’s easier to determine the ideal next steps for your business.
Let me know if I can help you get into profit mode.
Michael
Mike: Your riddle of the Sphinx post is wonderful indeed and right on! Touches all the bases – well conceived, executed. Great video.
Thanks, Al.
Sure seems like we all go through these stages doesn’t it?